When the Giants traded up in the fourth round in this year’s NFL Draft to select Syracuse QB Ryan Nassib, many fans and pundits scratched their heads and wondered what they were doing. They did not need a QB.

GM Jerry Reese said Nassib was the highest-rated player on the team’s board at the time, something which was verified by CEO John Mara the other day. He showed the select few out at TPC today just why the Giants’ brass thought so highly of him. He took the reins like a seasoned pro and appears to be on his way to validating their assessment of him.

Nassib:“It was fun to get back out there practicing with the team except for some of the growing pains on day one. I think it went really well….It’s definitely a step up from college, but this is something that guys in this room have dreamt about their whole lives. It’s definitely pretty cool, but you’re definitely starting to realize it’s a business now and it’s a job, it’s your profession and you’ve got to treat it as such.”

Tom Coughlin: “He went to a great school; had an excellent education. No, he did well. He was poised; picked it up well. You don’t really have any meeting time, just this morning. Sometimes you have a little trouble just getting the cadence. But he did well. As time went on he got more comfortable and got better with it. Guys started to respond. He had better help. Huddle breaks – I don’t know if you could tell from where you were – but he got some better huddle breaks. He did well.”

OC Kevin Gilbride: “First day out he did a pretty good job of mastering just the nomenclature, the terminology. He didn’t seem overly confused by what we’re trying to do. There’s so much thinking going on. It’s hard to execute at a level that I’m sure we’re going to see down the road, but really for the first day, he did pretty good.”

Like this:

Besides Being the WORST GM in Islander History. Garth "The Back up" Snow Has to be the WORST GM in the NHL, Hands Down! His Trades (lol) Signings and his CLOWN type attitude is the WORST in the NHL and his Track record proves it. LOSER all the Way around and he gets paid for it.

willymayshays said it very clear down below and I back his feelings.

These signings are left overs that no other team wanted but the Islanders.

Does any of you Wang fans want to bet that this team is no better than last year or the years before.

Besides Snow still thinks he's in a Youth rebuild, wasn't that the plan 6 years ago

CLOWNS ALL AROUND!!!! SNOW your an embarrassment to the Islanders and GM"S all around Professional sports.

And CHARLES "THE PIG" WANG is the WORST OWNER IN MAJOR LEAGUE SPORTS!!

Barclay's/BROOKLYN comes through again! You know Grabbo and Kulemin never would sign if NYI stayed in broke nassau - Halak too - and NYI would never be able to compete. Moving to BROOKLYN and leaving nassau is the best thing to ever happen to this franchise!

"How big a difference Barclay's Center/Brooklyn will make on the franchise -

I can tell you it was a topic of conversation with [Kulemin and Grabovski]. Excited about being in Brooklyn and being in a state of the art facility - it’s a part of the conversations that I have and in yesterdays transaction is played a big part."

I know I posted a few questions yesterday, but about the Vanek trade but, how much did we scout him? Sounds silly, but as I brought up yesterday we don't have a big (hell it's not even medium, from what I've read) scouting dept. I remember reading many Buf fans posting, "good luck, he's good when he wants to be" or "he's a one dimensional player, sure he scores, but that's it"

I thought we moved on from MM because we were looking for a more dynamic player. Vanek has a LONG track record and it all seems to say, lazy too often, not big on defense, caught out of position too early resulting in bad penalties."

It's really just an expansion of my point yesterday, only scouting is not just for draft picks. Some will argue, Vanek is an elite player, but not from what I saw. He wasn't worth Moulson and 2 HUGE picks. Maybe if we had an extra head or two, sharing ideas and views, we would have valued Moulson a bit higher and maybe even Vanek a bit lower...

I must say this team as constructed now is probably going to be the best team we the fans have seen in years. Now like Garth said its up to the players. Here's hoping JTs injury doesn't become a nagging one & set him back a year. The one question I thought that should've been asked but wasn't is w/ the signings of Grabo/Kools what does this mean for Strome/Nelson/Lee for the upcoming season? It would be nice to see bridge get on a winning track but don't think those 3 will be thrilled about playing there instead of NHL. I know one will probably stay for JTs wing but curious about the other 2. W/ that said I don't think Garth is done trading just yet. If anything he needs to clear out 2 players to make room for these 3 or maybe not.

My concern with Bailey is that he does not have the drive, look at how KO seen JT and went to train with him last year, it paid off. have not heard of seen if Bailey made the decision to get the most out of his ability. That being said, I am on the fence with giving up on him, unless it gets an Impact D Man, when I say impact, not talking offense, but a guy that strikes fear into opponent (Phaneuf) Tired of cringing every time JT is on the ice at the same time he is…as for the $, its not mine, so I can care less how much he gets paid.

Guy gets paid a gazillion dollars to play a game that we'd die to play for the thrill alone....plays like he's doing us a favor or just broke up with his g'friend...(seems almost weekly). If he put in effort in off season and showed he really cared, I'd like him to stick around but I've had enough of him. May be a case of no one wants him and we have to live with it; he may put up some numbers then trade him....if he was in business world he'd a been canned a long time ago.

@willymayshays Gotta disagree here for the fact its not just the stadium. Brooklyn is a big name and part of the best city on earth. I will always bleed blue and orange, but to say moving to brooklyn isn't an upgrade for the team in terms of diversifying their current revenues streams and hopefully continue to spend money like they did this offseason is just fiction. Also since when did you become the mind reader that knows why both FA's came and both goalies signed here unless of course you happen to have personally spoken to all players involved, if so I will rescind my comment. LETS GO ISLES BABY!!!

@willymayshays Probably one of the worst posts in quite some time. So sad that people actually liked it.

1. "Wouldn't a new arena any where be state of the art? Why are you so aggressively ignorant??"

Read the quote again, it says, "Excited about being in Brooklyn and being in a state of the art facility." Who said new arena? What if they moved into a old facility, would it still be state of the art. Who is the aggressively ignorant one here.

2. Tpjm is not rubbing Brooklyn in anyone's faces. Why assume that. Maybe he lives in or closer to Brooklyn. He can't be excited that he might be able to go to more games?

3. "Are you ever even a fan? Are you a Rangers fan with low class?" - Who are you to question anyone's dedication to the team. Tpjm did not say anything Anti-Islander.

4. A newer rink is an upgrade. Having mass transit to the arena is an upgrade. It is not just a big deal for Wang financially, it is a big deal for the Islanders financially because now there is more revenue for the team. Even if Wang sells, the annual payment is a benefit to the new owner of the Islanders. Yes, we need to win, but having the money does not hurt.

5. Owner, GM and coach could be better. Did Tpjm say they were great? No, so why go there? No reason.

6. Tpjm never said these 2 FA's were huge, but just quoted Garth saying that Brooklyn helped get them to sign here. Would you rather not have them? Are the Islanders better off if they signed with another team. If they are upgrades over Bailey and McD, then its a plus.

7. Tpjm did not mention Halak, but in any event, I think the Islanders got the better goalie who was free agent. I think he is better than Miller.

8. Islanders moved out of Nassau because of Long Island politics. I I might agree about bad ownership in that Pickett should not have signed that lease, but then again player salaries were not through the roof. The arena had to be updated. The county is broke and under the supervision of a financial watchdog. The team is moving off Long Island because Nassau allowed this to happen.

9. The word is classless, not classes. Let me use them both in sentences to help you out. Your attack on tpjm was classless. You should have paid attention in your English classes.

10. Calling anyone an ahole because they have an opinion different than yours is an example of arrogance.

There is some merit to his point, and as I posted yesterday, this might be a move motivated by Brett Yormark and not Garth Snow with permission to spend Wang bucks. The signings just don't fit something Snow has done in the past. He goes after bargains not big dollar players. Yormark may have forced someones hand in this. Bringing a pair of Russians into Brooklyn just might have some effect on attendance. A dozen stops on the D train local and they're right in the building.

@fourcups@Chris Retzlaff No way would they do it. I know many people here do not like Pheneuf but he is an NHL top 4 D and with that he WILL command a kings ransom to trade for. Toronto (or any team) will never trade a top 4 D to us for anything less than a Strome, Reinhart, Nelson etc. I mean Snow came out and said it on the FAN. I guess let's just ignore that the GM obviously put out feelers and backed off - and for a reason, because the return would have freaked out the fan base and disrupted the picks - rebuild.

@David Schwartz@willymayshays IMO, there are 2 ways to look at Brooklyn: 1. An area that will bring in new fans that will embrace the team for years to come or 2. An area that will bring in new fans who will quickly move on once the shine of the new arena wears off. I hope it's the 1st, but if this team doesn't cultivate a culture of winning now, those new fans will not stick around very long.

The points against Tpjm is that it's not specifically Brooklyn that is saving the Islanders. It's not like Wang was looking to build an arena and Brooklyn obliged and built it for the Isles. The Barclays Center and Brooklyn were a matter of convenience. The lease int NVMC was up in 2015 and Wang wasn't going to get his new arena - in Uniondale or anywhere else. He really had 2 choices. Re-up at NVMC, which he wasn't going to do - or find an arena that was already built. You can say that there were arenas outside of NY that he could have went to (KC for example). Maybe, but I truly think he wanted to keep the team here in NY and I think there is also some merit in what a few here stated - that the NHL would make it hard for him to leave NY.

Either way - right now Brooklyn holds sway over NVMC it's something new and shiny. That's really it. Maybe it helps bring in some upper tier UFAs in the future. But new building or not, it still goes back to being a good team with a winning culture.

@islesfan77@willymayshays Islesfan - we are usually on the same page or close to it most of the time, but I really have to call you out on point #2. Tpjm CONSTANTLY posts that Brooklyn is "saving" the Islanders. So much so that yes - it does feel like he is rubbing it in. He has often called out Nassau residents for voting the new arena down. I doubt he realizes how little information was given to the residents about the cost that be transferred to us via taxes. For the record, I voted FOR the arena - but I voted with my heart, not my brain.

It seems obvious that Tpjm is from Brooklyn and is proud of it and that's fine. But to say that Brooklyn is saving the Isles is ridiculous. What is "saving" them is a new arena that was already built. And this new arena coincidentally is located in Brooklyn. If that arena were located almost anywhere else on LI or NYC, Charles would have bought in there too. It has nothing to do with the boro of Brooklyn.

And in fact, I think it was Willy or another of these fine gentlemen replying to the post that pointed out: A new arena is great, but if the team doesn't win it means squat. Just ask the NY Mets. (Sorry - unintentional shot at the Mets).

I think the new arena can help the team because chances are it will help build some revenue. But that also doesn't mean squat if the owner isn't willing to put some of it back into the team. That remains to be seen.

Mass transit is going to be very good, as close as I was to the Colosseum, not having to worry about parking/driving.

Not sure about the Russian connection. Could be, but really, so what? My point was that these 2 aren't much of an upgrade. I like the signings, BUT why don't better players want to be here? Winning. even spending money guarantees nothing. Bad owners who hire terrible GM's and in turn hire TERRIBLE coaches will continue to hold us back, NO MATTER where we play.

Kvasha was a bust and a mistake right from the start,,, Yashin was the star but he couldn't carry a team without sufficient talent around him. And there really aren't a lot of transplanted Russians living in Garden City and the surrounding environs anyway. Those two weren't brought to NVMC to bring in Russian fans.

Your geography is off as well. Atlantic Avenue runs east from the Barclay's to Jamaica. It's Flatbush Avenue that runs south to Marine Park and Floyd Bennett Field. And it's really Coney Island Avenue that would be the ideal route out of Brighton Beach and up to the Barclay's

Hey Don, I agree 1000% on the above. I can even get why some islander fans would prefer the team in Brooklyn but to constantly pizz on the Coli is disgusting. That is 40+ years of history and home to the best American based team of all time. Home to multi hall of famers. To constantly spit on the history is disgusting. And don like you said (I am also a met fan) .... A new palace to play didn't help at all. Winning, culture, good players, a chance for titles, and competency throughout the org leads to consistent winning and becoming a UFA destination. Not the building.

Thank you don, I really think I try to be fair. I can see how my one post makes me look like a jerk, but tp comes across as arrogant, and I can't stand that. He reminds me of a kid. The rich kid who makes fun of a poor kid because his sneakers are beat up and no where close to being as cool as his. It's NOT just a difference in opinion. I don't like the guy. Not mad at 77, he's prob a nice guy... usually. what ya gonna do

I like how he is so critical of the insult then closes by justifying that he sees why the guy no longer posts here, and that guy threw more insults around than anyone. That's almost as good as not finding anything wrong with Bert pizzing all over the islanders history with every post.

@orange2327 Hey Orange. I have to take issue with the vote being a rejection of Wang not the Islanders. It was neither. It was a rejection of the possibility of residents being hit with a tax increase to help foot the bill. The problem is that we all think that the majority of Long Island cares about keeping the Islanders here, which just isn't the case. I don't know what the percentage would be, but I am willing to bet that the majority of Nassau residents are NOT Islanders fans. Therefore, they are not going to vote with their heart (like I did), but with their brains. There was so little information on the impact a new arena would have on taxpayers it was ridiculous. Anyone that voted YES to the arena did so with blind faith in our politicians that our taxes would not go up, or would go up insignificantly.

So if you want to say the No vote was a rejection of anything, it was a rejection of our local politicians because nobody trusted their quotes of saying taxes wouldn't be affected, without showing any proof. Residents are tired of being burned by our people in charge. And that crosses both party lines.

Better players have spurned offers from Garth Snow because the primary goal of a better player is to play for a better team,,, one which actually has a chance at a championship. Better players are pushed by other better player to get even better,,, how's that for semantic satiation??? And it's also an explanation for why Snow has failed to sign those better players when he even throws more money at them... Until this team starts showing a proclivity to reach the playoffs annually, those players are going to sign elsewhere. It's a fact of life, from Little League right on through to the pro leagues...

The owner bears the brunt of that, failing to adequately fund a payroll necessary to produce a consistent winner. And now we may be forced to bear witness to the fact that Wang doesn't really want to sell the team, apparently hedging his bet against Barroway's offer. But somebody stepped up and told Wang to "spend",,, and it's four years of spending at over $9 million for the two Russian forwards. You do not think them an upgrade??? I think the combination with either Strome or perhaps Grabner will be far superior to what we had last year as a #2 line. Aside from Nielsen. last years scoring came primarily from Tavares, Okposo and which ever left wing was here, Moulson or Vanek. I am not sure who Tavares' left wing will be next year, he is on record as saying he'd be comfortable with Nelson but maybe Lee wins the job. Either way, opposing teams will concentrate on the top line necessitating a second line to produce. Reuniting Kulemin and Grabovsky might be an attempt as Orange put it to recapture some magic but, they did produce over a two year period in Toronto while playing together,,, 89 G and 105 A... Come close to duplicating that and we have a decent second line to take some of the pressure off Tavares' line... And if Strome is truly the offensive wizard his bio says he can be, that trio will be a far superior line to one which would have had Bailey on it.

I am not saying that Snow didn't over-pay to sign these two players. They immediately slot in as the 2nd and 4th highest paid on the roster. That is why I am not so sure this was entirely Snow's idea. Spending Wang's money has been an anathema in the past, so what made it so right now??? Perhaps the pending move to Brooklyn means more cash to spend or perhaps it was the CEO at Barclay's that suggested to Wang it was time to spend. Maybe it's these two players because they want to recapture what they had in Toronto, or maybe it's the idea of icing a few Russians in a borough that has a large Russian population. I don't have that answer but I do know this,,, we are definitely better with them in the line up than we would be without them.

As to your final point about the GM and coaches, I can only empathize with you but add that as long as Wang wants to own this team he has the right to employ who he wants, and there is nothing that we the fans can do except boycott the product. That actually defeats the purpose of trying to get him to spend money and improve the team...

Sorry,,, but I do not ride the subway anymore... It doesn't go to the golf courses I frequent. I did look at an old MTA map and saw the D, and Q out of Brighton Beach and the B, F, and N out of Coney Island. Perhaps the map is out of date... Ah yes,,, September 1997...

Orange, isn't even bay ridge and Bensonhurst getting a lot of Russians there now too? Large pockets of Asian communities as well. I remember 15-20 years ago they were 90% Italian but that seems to be changing. I know my in laws area went from all Italian to a lot of yuppies and French people. Demographics seem to be changing many neighborhoods around there.

Red ... Thanks for the school session, however my in laws live in Carroll Gardens and I pass the Barclays weekly. Atlantic Ave starts as Conduit Ave off of the Belt/southern State and runs clear to the river where you can enter the BQE at Atlatnitc Ave about 2 miles west of the Barclays. And I know the area even better because on 9/11 my wife crossed Atlantic Ave at Bond Street about 1.5 miles from Barclays to witness numerous store fronts owned by middle easterners celebrating.

My point is the area right by Barclays has many middle eastern owned businesses. The boro of Briooklyn not necessarily in the direct area is becoming more and more heavily slanted towards Russian. Many players of Russian descent probably would like to be in Brooklyn. We haven't had much luck with Russians.

@willymayshays@islesfan77 Hey Islesfan - just to add to my point from earlier - you may have noticed in the last article posted by Kevin tpjm once again toot toots the horn for Brooklyn in a boasting, in-your-face kind of way. He is a troll and nothing more.

@dkdk LOL! Good point. I will honestly say that there were times that I agreed with RMs points. But man, his delivery was very crass. It's obvious he enjoyed riling you guys up. If he isn't still here either watching or under another name, he'll be back. He enjoys the fight too much to stay away.

My crystal ball, although not infallible, still sees the possibility of Kirill Kabanov on a wing with Grabovsky and Kulemin, and that's not crystal meth talking. Kabanov is a mercurial offensive talent with a lot of emotional baggage. He sounds a lot like another player that Snow just drafted,,, Ho Sang. And of that player you said, "HoSang could be great if he can mature mentally, be more of a team player, become much more responsible defensively and put on a bunch of weight/muscle. I see ability (a lot of ability) AND a lot of ?'s."

Your assessment mirrors mine on Kabanov. The only difference, Kabanov is older and bigger right now. He will also have the benefit of two countrymen, either one or both of which might play psychologist and straighten the kid out. That is a possibility and not a reach but, only time will tell...

I remember that area from 40 years ago. The LIRR terminal was a crumbling ruin. The surrounding streets were full of drug dealers. The older businesses going under, and most that were left were dingy taverns and some newish bodegas. The one beacon was BAM but even that couldn't put a good spin on the neighborhood. I think the gentrification of Brooklyn a good thing...

Orange .. Right with you bud, Murray, Suozzi,,etc are creeps as are just about all politicians but it doesn't mean wang wasn't complicit. And for anyone to think his past corporate DNA didn't impede things, well I have a bridge to sell ya. It seemed like Dolan, Ratner, and many others were perfectly contented to bid on the revised plan that wang would not even consider negotiating off of.

And that advisory board is ignored by most and was hurdle that I doubt could have ever been overcome.

No one wanted to get in the pool with him and it was a well deserved reputation. It can never be proved one way or the other but just suppose Dolan owned the team in place of wang, I bet there would have been a far better likelihood of getting something done.

We had a party at Gargiulios a few months back and I drove the streets and went through those pockets and I was somewhat startled by little Korea. And by that I simply mean it wasn't all that many years before that there wasn't really even any Asians to note there. I can't recall a neighborhood changing that quickly. Then again I am watching it firsthand in Carroll Gardens too so I guess I shouldn't have been that stunned.

And when you couple his past with his style of never negotiating it was a fools errand to think anything would get done. As I have posted before I needed permits and modications to build a simple backyard deck. He expected to throw up Lefrak City East without someone telling him he may be a little overzealous? Drop in to the real world once in awhile.